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The making of…a hollow wooden longboard
End of year orders are up and there are some beautiful surfboards being made in the workshop to finish off the year. Here’s some snippets of a 9′.8″ longboard that’s taking shape. There’s two 11 footers to follow.
Once the wood is cut and prepared, it’s time to set the rocker curve on the surfboard using a specially constructed table. The CNC cut frame is then constructed and fits neatly into the rocker curve created on the table. With the wood already glued together, the shape can be drawn out on the wood and is now ready to cut out. The snippets below show the process up to this point.
Two rough cut pieces of Western Red Cedar that are going to be used to make the longboard.
Time to clean out the rough surface and see what the grain on these pieces of wood have to offer. It’s always very satisfying to see the grain appear – selecting the wood gives you an idea of whether you have a special piece, but it is only when it goes through the planer that you get to see what kind of magic you have.
Slice and dice: Depending on the thickness of the wood, between two and four planks can be cut from a single piece.
Making wood surfboards generates lots of sawdust. Mine gets used in the farm that my workshop is located on as bedding for animals to keep them snug on chilly nights.
